To sleep, perchance to dream ...

Ordinarily I sleep like a rock.

My sleep rocks. I also enjoy naps.

I fall asleep right away and snooze soundly until I awake in the morning.

Sometimes I have the pleasure of enjoying remarkable dreams like I had the other night. I was walking along a city street with a nicely dressed man in a dark suit and overcoat. We were having a great conversation - strong connection, comfortable and generous vibes abounded. We chatted about matters substantial (I'm not terrific at small talk anyway) and artistic.

At one point he took my hand - it felt soft and warm and strong - and we continued to converse. We agreed to be good friends and work together on some great projects that he would produce.

Suddenly I realized -- all this time I had been speaking with George Clooney.

My kinda dream!

Sleep specialists say to get a good night's rest, it's important NOT to let pets sleep with you.

I train my pets to sleep soundly on the bed and they do - unless one of them is ill, in which case I'm usually up all night taking care of him or her. But that's rare.

However, all that changed with the introduction of my new kitten, Allie Cat. I'm in the midst of training her to sleep soundly throughout the night.

She is small, sweet, cute, cuddly -- and more energetic than a Cirque de Soleil acrobat.

I find myself waking in the middle of the night with a new moustache - the kitten's amazingly long tail draped across my upper lip.

Or having dreams of a chain saw coming toward me .. as she purrs loudly in my ear.

She also licks my chin while I'm asleep. Kittens have tongues like the most coarse sandpaper evah - it's painful to understand the wonder of kitten love. It's like waking up to a rake being dragged across ultra-tender skin!

I can't move my feet under the covers because every movement is attacked by Simba, her lion-tiger alter-ego.

Fortunately, she very seldom extends her claws and does not bite, but she does attack moving objects.

Especially my two 5-pound Pomeranians. They're perfectly behaved on the bed - suckers! She dashes out of nowhere, leaps on them, tackles them then hugs them with extended arms and starts to kiss them.

They are not amused.

Allie also practices playing piano in the middle of the night. She pounces on the keys - and one would think that the sound would startle her enough to dart away. No .. she starts at the top of the treble clef and prances all the way down to the end of the bass clef.

So my usually serene sleep is being disrupted by a four pound whirling dirvish, which leaves my eyebrows furrowed during the day - which makes people wonder if I'm upset with them.

Not at all!

Fortunately, it won't take much longer for me to train Allie to sleep through the night - I'm making sure she gets lots of exercise during the day and play with her just before bedtime! Happily, she snoozes soundly most of the night now - it's just those few minutes... here and there... and the piano playing ... that make all the difference.

;-)